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March 24, 1964 R. KUGHLE R ATTACHMENTS FOR LIFT TRUCKS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 4, 1957 FIG. 3

INVENTOR. EDWIN R. KUGHLER ATTORNEYS Z'MJML Vim;

March 24, 1964 5 KUGHLER 3,126,223

ATTACHMENTS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Filed Nov. 4, 1957 4 Sheecs-S'T e elI 2 FIG. l6

FIG. 6

22 FIG. 9 h ///2 3| g J I 8: [30 s INVENTOR. EDWIN R. KUGH LER g ATTORNEYS 26 2a 27 B W-wk T in March 24, 1964 KUGHLER 3,126,223

ATTACHMENTS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Filed NOV. 4, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheets INVENTOR. EDWIN R. KUGHLER A ATTORNEYS E. R. KUGHLER 3,126,223

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ATTACHMENTS FOR LIFT TRUCKS i SO FIG. l3

INVENTOR. EDWIN R. KUGHLER BY L ATTORNEYS 7 {MM/9W March 24, 1964 Filed Nov. 4, 1957 United States Patent 3,126,223 A'I'IACHlVIENTS FGR LET TRUCKS Edwin R. Kughler, 115-117 E. 129th St.,

New York, N.Y. Filed Nov. 4, 1957, Ser. No. 694,211 3 Claims. (Cl. 294-103) This invention relates to attachments for lift trucks to facilitate the handling of various types of loads other than pallets which the conventional forks are designed to handle.

The principal object of my invention is to provide attachments to be substituted for or attached to the conventional forks to thereby enable the truck upon mere manipulation of the truck itself to firmly grasp and pick up various types of load such as drums and barrels, rolls of news print, bales and boxes, and in fact any type of load that can be gripped, and transport the load over rough surfaces, up and down inclines and in fact anywhere that the truck can go without danger of the load being dislodged and dropped.

A further object of my invention is to provide load handling devices which are rugged and of simple design and low manufacturing cost, and which require no special skill to manipulate.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following specification and the accompanying drawings wherein I have illustrated several modifications of my load handling attachment.

Referring to the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a lift truck equipped with an attachment for handling rolls of news print;

FIG. 2 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of the load handling attachment;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section on line 33 of FIG. 2 with the load gripping parts open;

FIG. 4 is a similar view with the load gripping parts closed;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section on line 5-5 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 1 showing an attachment for handling oil drums or the like in vertical position;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the attachment on an enlarged scale;

FIG. 8 is a vertical section of the attachment shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front elevation partly in section of the attachment shown in FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a side elevation similar to FIGS. 1 and 6 showing an attachment designed for handling loads of widely varying type without necessity of adjustment of the attachment for different loads;

FIG. 11 is a similar view showing the load after it is elevated and gripped against displacement;

FIG. 12 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale of the attachment shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a front elevation of the attachment shown in FIG. 12 partly broken away;

FIGS. 14 and 15 are detail views on the correspondingly numbered lines of FIG. 13; and

FIG. 16 is a view similar to FIG. 8 showing a modified form of drum gripping device.

Referring to the drawings, particularly FIGS. 1-5, inclusive, 1 indicates the lift truck provided with the usual load carrying tilting frame 2 on which is mounted the vertically movable cross head 3 to which the conventional forks are attached. The newspaper roll handling attachment shown in FIGS. 15 comprises a frame 4 designed to be clamped to the cross head 3 by clamping members 5. The frame 4 consists of a channel shaped member whose side flanges 6 are vertically positioned when the aizazas Patented Mar. 24:, 1964 frame is attached to the cross head 3 and extend forwardly as illustrated in FIG. 3. Mounted in the side flanges 6 are two horizontal shafts 7 on the ends of which are mounted rollers 5 which serve to support a second relatively movable frame 9. This second frame 9 consists of side members 14) parallel with the side members 6 of the frame 4 and channel shaped to provide tracks for the rollers 3, whereby the two frames are capable of relative vertical movement.

The two side channels 1% are connected by a front plate 11 to which is fixedly attached a paper roll lifting member 12 of the shape shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Also projecting forwardly from the front member 11 of the frame 9 are bearings 13 for a cross shaft 14 on which are pivotally mounted arms 15 to the front end of which the upper roll gripping member 16 is fixedly attached. The arms 15 are connected to each other by a cross rod 17 and mounted on the rod 17 and also on the cross shaft 14 at their mid points is a lever 18 which extends rearwardly of the shaft 14- and is slotted as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 to embrace a cross shaft 19 extending between the side member 6 of the frame 4- which is attached to the cross head of the lift truck.

Extension springs 2d are connected at their upper ends to the cross shaft 19 and at their lower ends to the front wall 11 of the second frame. The springs hold the second frame in its uppermost position with respect to the first frame, thereby holding the roll gripping arms 12 and 16 in the open position shown in FIG. 3.

The operation of this mechanism will be readily understood from the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings. As the truck moves forwardly the gripping arm 12 will extend under the roll as shown in full line position, and when the elevating mechanism is operated the cross head will move the first frame upwardly, thereby tending to lift the second frame through the springs 2313. The weight of the paper roll, however, prevents upward movement of the second frame and consequently the first frame moves upwardly relative to the second frame, thereby through the cross shaft 19 and the lever 18 turning the arms 15 and with them the roll gripping member 16, downwardly into engagement with the paper roll, as shown in FIG. 14. When the movement of the arms 15 is stopped by the engagement of the gripper 16 with the paper roll, the two frames will move upwardly together with the roll firmly gripped between the arms 12 and 16. To release the roll the movement of the cross head is reversed. The roll is lowered against the floor or other support, thereby stopping the downward movement of the second frame to which the gripping member 12 is attached. The continued lowering of the cross head continues to move the first frame downward, thereby opening the gripping arms so that the truck can back away from the roll.

In FIGS. 6 to 9, inclusive, 1 have shown a small and inexpensive drum handling device which I have found quite satisfactory under the conditions usually met in the usual drum handling operations. In the drawings 21 indicates the vertically movable cross head of the truck, which cross head carries a transverse shaft 22 on which my improved drum gripping member is mounted. My drum gripping member comprises a vertical frame consisting of two channels 23, 23 connected together, with their side members facing each other as shown in FIG. 7, by means of a cross shaft 24 somewhat below the mid point in the length of the channels and a smaller cross shaft 25 at the upper ends of the channels. The two channels are also fixedly connected by means of a foot plate 26 which is welded or otherwise fixed to the channels and which is formed with a forwardly projecting part 2'7 shaped as shown in FIG. 8 to extend under the bottom of the drum when the lifting attachment is moved against the barrel. The part 27 has on its upper face a groove 28 to receive the rim of the barrel, as shown. The two side channels 23 are also connected by the cross member 29 which is welded or otherwise secured to the side members of the channels and is formed with a cross bore to receive the shaft 22 attached to the cross head of the lift truck. At its upper end the frame formed of the two vertical channels 23 is provided with a plate 3%) positioned to contact the upper rim of the drum when the frame is pushed against the drum by the forward movement of the truck. Also mounted at the upper end of the frame is a barrel gripping hook 31 which is pivoted on the cross shaft 25 and held in its barrel gripping position by extension spring 32 connected at its upper end to the hook and at its lower end to the cross shaft 24-.

In operation the driver of the truck tilts his lifting frame forwardly to an angle such that the plate 33 will engage the upper rim of the drum at the same time that the nose of the shoe 26 contacts the lower edge of the drum. Continued forward movement of the truck causes the plate 36 to tilt the upper end of the barrel forwardly, thereby lifting the rear bottom edge so that the shoe 26 will move under the drum until the lower rim of the barrel drops into the groove 2-3. The hook 31 is shaped so as to be forced upwardly against the tension of the spring when the truck is moved forwardly so that the hook 31 snaps over the upper rim of the drum at the time the plate 39 contacts the drum and tilts it forwardly. The rear face of the hook 31 is so shaped that so long as the frame is in substantially vertical position the weight of the barrel against the rear face of the hook will not tilt the hook upwardly.

When the operator wishes to release the barrel after moving it to a new location he tilts the frame forwardly and then lowers the drum into contact with the floor. With the lift frame thus tilted forwardly the front end of the barrel will engage the floor before the shoe 26 and consequently the continued downward movement of the frame will move the shoe 26 away from the barrel, at the same time pushing the hook 31 upwardly to the position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8. In this position a further tilting movement of the frame 2 will withdraw the shoe from beneath the barrel so that the entire gripping device may be moved upwardly and release the barrel.

Referring to FIG. 10, the attachment there shown is intended primarily for handling bales but can readily be adapted for various types of loads by changing the load gripping members. This modification of my improved load gripping device is designed to permit the handling of loads of widely varying size without any adjustment of the mechanism. As here shown, the attachment comprises a frame 40 to be attached to the vertically movable cross head of the lift truck in the same manner as the frame 2 shown in FIG. 1. The frame 40 attached to the cross head as described consists of a rear plate 41 to which the cross head clamping members are attached, the rear plate having vertical side flanges forming guides for similar side flanges on a second frame 42 to thereby permit relative vertical movement of the two frames. The side members of the second frame extend upwardly above the edge of the plate 41 and are connected at their upper ends by a cross bar or plate 43 on which cross plate is mounted the shaft 44 of a sprocket 45.

The side arms of the second frame also extend downwardly below the rear plate 41 and at their lower ends are connected by horizontal cross bar 46 and the vertical cross bar 47 to the latter of which is attached spindle 48 of a second sprocket 41*). A chain Si? is trained over the two sprockets in the manner shown in FIG. 13, the ends of the chain being anchored, respectively, to the top cross bar 43 and the lower cross bar 46.

The first frame 4%, upon which the second frame is supported for relative movement, has attached to its front face the spindles for a pair of sprockets 51, 52, respectively, over which the chain 5% is also trained. The chain extends from its anchor on the cross bar at the top of the second frame around the sprocket 52, thence around the sprocket 45, thence to the sprocket 49, thence over the sprocket 51 to the anchor at the bottom of the second frame. Also mounted for vertical movement relative to both the first and second frame above described is a third frame '54 consisting of a front plate with side channels parallel with and within the side channels of the second frame, which said third frame is attached to the mid portion of the chain 50 by means of a bracket 55 as shown in FIG. 13. Also attached to the third frame 54 are upper load engaging members 56 here shown as hooks for projection into a bale or the like. For engaging under the bottom of the load I have shown a shoe 57 attached to the lower cross members 46 and 47.

As will be noted in FIG. 13 the side members of the second frame 42 are of I-beam cross section to provide tracks for rollers 58 and 59, attached respectively to the first frame 41 and the third frame 54.

The operation of the device will now be described. The truck is moved against the bale or other load to be lifted, with its frame tilted forward in the usual manner to facilitate the projection of the shoe under the edge of the bale. With the bale resting on the shoe, cross head 3 is elevated, thereby moving the frame 41 upwardly with respect to the frame 42 which is held down by the weight of the bale. As the frame 41 moves upwardly the sprockets 51, 52 are also moved upwardly. As their teeth are held by the chains, the sprockets 51 and 52 are rotated on their spindles, causing the mid point of the chain which is attached to the third frame 54 to move downwardly at a speed twice that of the upward movement of the frame 41. As the mid point of the chain is attached by the bracket 55 to the third frame 54, the

frame 54 carrying the bale engaging books 56 is moved downwardly until the hook engages the upper end of the bale and stops the downward movement of the frame 54. When the relative movement of the frame is stopped the continued upward movement of the frame 41 will cause all three portions of the frame to move upwardly as a unit, thereby lifting the bale from the ground so that it may be transported by the truck.

It will of course be understood that the load-engaging stop 57 and hook 56 may be variously modified to handle loads other than the bales illustrated. Stop 57 may be the conventional forks and the hook 56 a plate or grid for clamping against the flat surface of a stack of cartons. This arrangement is particularly useful for handling pallets stacked high with cartons, sacks, and the like, particularly where the surface over which the load is to be transported is rough or inclined.

In FIG. 16 I have shown a modified form of drum engaging devices wherein the hook which engages the upper rim of the drum is held in gripping position by weight of the drum instead of by spring tension as in the mechanism shown in FIGS. 6, '7 and 8. As here shown the frame of the device consists of a vertical channel 6%; attached at its mid point to the elevating cross head of the lift truck. Pivotally attached to the bottom end of the frame is a shoe 61 having a pointed nose to be pushed under the rim of the drum and a groove 62 on its upper surface to receive the rim.

A hook 63 is pivoted to the top of the channel 60, the hook having a notch 64 for receiving the upper rim of the drum. The shoe 61 and book 63 are connected by a link 65, the point of connection of the link to the hook 63 being much nearer its pivot than the point of connection of the link to the shoe, whereby the angle of movement of the hook will be correspondingly greater than that of the shoe. A spring 66 holds the pivoted parts in their upper positions indicated in dotted lines.

The attachment shown in FIG. 16 is manipulated in the same way as the device of FIGS. 6, et seq. With the frame of the elevating head tilted forwardly the truck is advanced until the upper end of the frame 60 engages the drum and tilts it slightly to permit the shoe 61 to be projected under the drum. The movement of the truck is continued but the frame of the elevating head is simul taneously moved backward so that the shoe is pushed under the drum until the rim is seated in the slot 62. The elevating head is now raised but as the shoe 61 is held down by the weight of the drum the hook 63 will be swung downwardly against the tension of the spring 66 until it engages the top of the drum with the rim at the top of the drum in the slot 64, thereby firmly gripping the drum.

In the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings I have disclosed several modifications of my improved attachments for lift trucks, but it will be understood that my invention is not limited to the structures shown except insofar as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In an attachment for lift trucks and the like, the combination of a supporting member to be attached to the lifting member of the truck, a carriage, means mounting said carriage for movement relative to said supporting member, vertically spaced upper and lower load gripping parts mounted on said carriage, one of said parts being movable relative to said carriage, the lowermost portion of said lower gripping part being shaped to project under a load upon forward movement of said truck, said parts being relatively movable toward and from each other to grasp a load resting on said lower gripping part, and motion transmitting connections between the two parts and the supporting member, whereby an upward movement of the supporting member with respect to the lower load grasping part causes the upper load grasping part to move downwardly toward the first named grasping member.

2. The attachment of claim 1 wherein said last named part is moved relatively to the carriage by the movement of the carriage relatively to the supporting member.

3. The attachment of claim 1 wherein the carriage is spring held against relative downward movement with respect to said supporting member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,720,992 Cushman Oct. 18, 1955 2,757,813 Adams Aug. 7, 1956 2,760,662 Kughler Aug. 28, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 816,222 Germany Oct. 8, 1951 

1. IN AN ATTACHMENT FOR LIFT TRUCKS AND THE LIKE, THE COMBINATION OF A SUPPORTING MEMBER TO BE ATTACHED TO THE LIFTING MEMBER OF THE TRUCK, A CARRIAGE, MEANS MOUNTING SAID CARRIAGE FOR MOVEMENT RELATIVE TO SAID SUPPORTING MEMBER, VETICALLY SPACED UPPER AND LOWER LOAD GRIPPING PARTS MOUNTED ON SAID CARRIAGE, ONE OF SAID PARTS BEING MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID CARRIAGE, THE LOWERMOST PORTION OF SAID LOWER GRIPPING PART BEING SHAPED TO PROJECT UNDER A LOAD UPON FORWARD MOVEMENT OF SAID TRUCK, SAID PARTS BEING RELATIVELY MOVABLE TOWARD AND FROM EACH OTHER TO GRASP A LOAD RESTING ON SAID LOWER GRIPPING PART, AND MOTION TRANSMITTING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE TWO PARTS AND THE SUPPORTING MEMBER, WHEREBY AN UPWARD MOVEMENT OF THE SUPPORTING MEMBER WITH RESPECT TO THE LOWER LOAD GRASPING PART CAUSES THE UPPER LOAD GRASPING PART TO MOVE DOWNWARDLY TOWARD THE FIRST NAMED GRASPING MEMBER. 